Platform 9¾
by The Fat Chipmunk
Summary: [FC] It was the first place she saw him. The first time she actually thought the unthinkable. HG


Disclaimer: Who, me?

Note: Some passages (mostly dialogue, I think) were taken directly from PS - credit obviously given to JKR. :)

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Platform 9¾** - It was the first place she saw him. The first time she actually thought the unthinkable. 

_Percy was prefect._

It was basically the only thing said _all morning; _something you couldn't avoid if you were within two stories of Percy or a half-mile radius of Fred and George. Which was essentially everywhere.

It was times like these, she thought grumpily, that she wished Bill or Charlie were still here. More Bill than Charlie, since he was older and…well, better. (Not that she'd say that to Charlie's face.) But Bill could shut Fred and George up, deflate Percy, do all his work, please Mum, and still have to time to tease her. Normally, she hated the teasing – Fred and George made up for nearly every other person on the planet – but Bill always laughed and winked at her when he did it, and hugged her afterward. Why couldn't everyone else be like Bill?

Now there was just Percy, who, if she had to pick favorites among her brothers, would undoubtedly be last on her list; Fred and George, who always blew things up and knew every possible way to make Mum mad; and, of course, Ron, who was only a year older but looked at her like she was still a baby. And they were _all _going to Hogwarts, leaving her alone _all year _with Mum and Dad. It wasn't _fair _that she had to be youngest! And the only girl, for that matter.

Bollocks.

King's Cross was the same old place as always – too crowded and unbearably loud. She held Mum's hand tightly as they marched along to platforms nine and ten because she reckoned she'd be swept away if she let go. Dad had always been fascinated by all the Muggles walking around, blabbering on about whatever Muggles talked about and waving their train tickets around in wild gesticulations, but he didn't usually come to see them off.

She'd always thought it was funny how the Muggles didn't give them much more than strange looks, what with Errol and the big trunks, and how they didn't seem to notice when people disappeared through the magical barrier. One time, she'd thought that maybe wizards became invisible once they stepped into King's Cross, but a Muggle man had tripped over Ron and started cursing once (until Mum glared at him, of course), which dispelled that fancy.

Percy walked a few steps ahead of them, holding his head high in the way that made him seem like he was looking down at everyone. Fred and George were two paces behind him, snickering at his back. Ron stared down at his too-small trainers as he trudged next to Mum, stopping every once in a while to mumble an apology to whoever he'd just bumped into because he wasn't looking where he was going. Mum finally yelled at him to Please Watch Where You're Going Otherwise I'll Put You In This Trolley. Ron picked his head up after that.

When they had reached the barrier, Mum stopped everyone and began rattling off her usual start-of-term spiel. Percy looked impatient as he fingered his gleaming new prefect's badge, which Fred and George kept glancing at. Mum told them to please try not to get so many detentions this year and look after Ron ("I don't need looking after!") and send some letters this year, then turned to Percy and just looked at him proudly for a moment before kissing him on the cheek.

She was just resigning herself to another year of dreary nothingness when a boy walked up to her. Well, not _her, _exactly It was Mum he approached, but it _looked _like he'd been coming toward her. At first, she thought she knew him – several of Fred and George's friends had younger siblings that also came to King's Cross – and half-raised her hand before she realized he was a complete stranger.

Thankfully, he didn't notice her abandoned movement. She quickly stuffed her hand in her pocket as she watched him shuffle his feet a bit. He seemed embarrassed, standing there in clothes that were much too big for him and pushing a trolley that held a trunk twice as big around as he was. He had the sort of look that would have made Mum faint – stick-thin and shyer than a mouse.

To her, he was captivating. She couldn't chase away the feeling that he looked vaguely familiar, even though that was absurd since she was absolutely positive – especially after getting a better look at him – that she'd never seen him before in her life.

He had the most unruly black hair; it was darker than anything she'd ever seen, something so new to her after ten years of red Weasley hair that it momentarily took her breath away. It hung into his eyes, which were the prettiest shade of green in the world. They were almost an emerald-like color, but entirely different from the emerald crayon she had at home. He had a pair of glasses, too, that looked worse for the wear with scotch-tape wrapped around the bridge and the slightly crooked way they were perched on his nose.

He glanced at her once, with those not-really-emerald-green eyes, and gave her a fleeting, hesitant smile. She immediately put it on the list of the best moments of her life and just managed to smile back, but he'd already turned his attention back to Mum, listening carefully as she explained how to go through the barrier. She wanted to go right up and tell them that _she _could help him get through – she'd been doing it _forever_, after all, and could show him how it was done. But by the time she reckoned she'd mustered enough courage to take a step forward, Mum was telling to him to go on through, now, before Ron.

She resisted the urge to run up to him, to get another glimpse of those eyes before he disappeared. But she stopped herself sternly and watched him weave through the Muggles, looking confident until the end, where he broke into a little run.

She sighed and allowed herself to be led through the barrier by Mum, who impatiently dragged her along and told her to move her feet faster or they'd miss the train. But she was too busy wondering to care – wondering who the boy was and why he was having such an odd effect on her. She didn't _like _boys; living with six brothers had taken care of that pretty quickly. Sure, they were nice sometimes, like Bill, and funny like Fred and George, but she couldn't ever imagine _liking _anyone like them, never mind _marrying_ someone. They were just too stupid and too loud and…well, too _boyish._

But now, here was this boy that she'd seen for all of two minutes and couldn't get out of her head. It was rather irritating, having an image of a boy she didn't even know the name of floating around in her mind.

The usual gaggles of people swarmed about the platform; parents tearfully sending off their children, students joyfully greeting old friends. She stuck next to Mum, pretending to be looking for Ron or Fred or George even though she was really looking for the black-haired boy. If only she'd gotten his name…

_Stop it,_ she told herself crossly. _He's probably just like Ron. All boys are the same, aren't they?_

They found said brother shortly, a bit red in the face after heaving his trunk onto the train by himself. Fred and George came up soon after, a gleeful light in their eyes that meant they had a secret.

"Ron, you've got something on your nose," Mum said, whipping out a handkerchief and grabbing Ron's arm. She began rubbing the end of his nose vigorously as he squirmed.

"_Mom,"_ he groaned. "Geroff."

"Aaah, has ickle Ronnie got somefink on his nosie?" Fred said. She giggled, and he winked at her.

"Shut up," Ron said.

Percy came striding into view after that, already in his billowing black Hogwarts robes with a silver badge on his chest. Mum kissed him on the cheek again and sent him off to his special prefects' compartment, which everyone knew all about because it was all Percy had ever talked about over the summer. Mum then turned on Fred and George, who were still looking excited and nudging each other every so often.

"This year, you behave yourselves," she said sternly. "If I get one more owl telling me you've – you've blown up a toilet or – "

"Blown up a toilet? We've never blown up a toilet," Fred said.

"Great idea though, thanks, Mum," George grinned.

"It's _not funny_."

_Yes it is,_ Fred mouthed to her, making her giggle again as Mum turned to Ron to straighten his collar for the third time.

"Hey, Mum, guess what?" George said. "Guess who we just met on the train?"

"You know that black-haired boy who was near us in the station?" Fred went on. "Know who he is?"

She froze as he said those words, looking from Fred to George and back to Fred and wondering whether she was just hearing things now. Her heart struggled to remember how to beat as she silently raged at Fred to stop standing there and _say_ it already.

"Who?" Mum asked in her hurry-up-and-finish-what-you're-going-to-say tone.

"_Harry Potter!"_

Her eyes widened and she immediately tugged on Mum's sleeve. "Oh, Mum, can I go on the train and see him, Mum, oh please…" She just _had _to see him, just once more – who knew when she'd ever get the chance again? And she knew why he'd looked so familiar – _everybody _had seen pictures of Harry Potter and _everybody _knew his story, but she'd never imagined he'd look so…_handsome. He doesn't seem so stupid, either. And he looks nice; he smiled at me, didn't he? Maybe I can marry him._

"You've already seen him, Ginny, and the poor boy isn't something you goggle at in a zoo," Mum said with a sigh. "Is he really, Fred? How do you know?"

She stood there, hating Mum for a moment and wondering what would happen if she just ran onto the train. Who would stop her? She'd be going next year anyway –

The whistle sounded, and Ron, Fred, and George hurriedly waved goodbye. Mum went up to kiss their cheeks. She stayed back and rose up on her tiptoes, scanning the windows through blurry eyes for a glimpse of black hair, of emerald eyes, of _Harry Potter…_and when she couldn't see him, she started to cry.

She didn't cry often – she'd learned that it didn't get you anywhere – but she was just so frustrated and disappointed that the tears welled up and spilled out faster than she could wipe them away.

"Don't, Ginny, we'll send you loads of owls," Fred called out.

"We'll send you a Hogwarts toilet seat," George added, making her laugh again, so that now she was half-crying, half-laughing.

"_George!"_

"Only joking, Mum," George grinned.

The train began to move and she ran along next to it, waving and laughing harder because Fred and George were making funny faces out the window. And then – just as the train was gathering speed – she saw him. She saw him poke his head out to look at the platform, and she ran faster – even faster than the time Ron chased her around the house with a bowl of oatmeal in his hand because she had stolen his teddy bear – and waved so hard she thought it just might fall off, praying to Merlin to let him see her, to let him wave back.

And then, at the last moment, he turned his head and looked at her. But the train was moving too fast, and suddenly he was gone; just the few students in the back of the train that were shouting out last goodbyes to their families.

"Ginny, let's go!" Mum called.

_He saw me._

"Coming, Mum."

_Yes,_ she thought, a smile spreading across her face as she watched the train slowly disappear around the bend._ I'm going to marry Harry Potter.  
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